Research

Identity Politics in India and Europe
Thousand Oaks • London • New Delhi (SAGE)

The book examines present perceptions of East and West seen through the eyes of eminent scholars from India.

The first section of this book reviews the history of perceptions between the Europe of Latin Christianity and the so-called Muslim world starting from the seventh century when both were just about to emerge from opposite fringes of the decaying Roman Empire.

Increasingly, however, a new civilisation took over from within the world spanning European colonial empires: that of modernity. The second part of the book is devoted to a characterisation of that civilisation from a theoretical point of view and to an analysis of its interference with older frames of reference.

One major change with the advent of modernity was modern politics, mass politics in particular. The structural changes in the public sphere of modern polities made the mobilisation of the masses the prime resource of power. In this process intellectual elites have a significant role to play by inheriting the role of the priestly classes of pre-modern times. They also inherited an ambivalent role vis-a-vis the ruling elites and a relationship of mutual dependency. Ruling elites are in need of legitimacy and depend on intellectual elites to supply the necessary ideological tools. Intellectual elites, on the other hand depend on ruling elites for the means of their subsistance.

This complex relationship is the subject of the third part of the book. The book investigates challenges to the established normative order in India and Europe, which stem from ethnic, national and religious identity politics. The methodology combines qualitative methods in the form of 20 interviews conducted with academics in India, with historical and philosophical analyses.

The interviews presented here are set in the historical context of relations between Europe and the Muslim World and analysed from a theoretical angle drawing from theories of modernity, conceptions of justice and notions of identity politics. They comprise interviews of eminent scholars and thinkers in India such as Imtiaz Ahmad and Ashis Nandy. These make for an insightful read, especially as subtle ideological differences surface in their responses to a set of common questions. The book will be of great interest to the world of social science academia, especially those with specific interest in the history of transnational history, politics and cultural relations.

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SAGE International:
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?contribId=633552&prodId=Book234920

SAGE India:
http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book.asp?bookid=1440&mode=1

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.de/Identity-Politics-Europe-Michael-Dusche/dp/8132103041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books-intl-de&qid=1259822907&sr=8-1

In the Spirit of Einstein.
Germans and Israelis on Ethics and International Order
Jerusalem (Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations)

Table of Contents:

Arie M. Kacowicz: Introduction

Chapter 1 – Arie M. Kacowicz: In the Spirit of Einstein. Germans and Israelis on Ethics and International Order

Part I. Global Governance and International Order

Chapter 2 – Michael Dusche: Nationalism, the 'Measles of Mankind'
Chapter 3 – Ingvild Bode: Empowered Individuals. Individual Agency in Global Governance
Chapter 4 – Shai Moses: Ethics in Global Environmental Policy. The Case of European Climate Chagne Policy
Chapter 5 – Thomas Risse: Notees on 'Global Governance' and Prospects for Israeli-German Academic Exchange

Part II. Peace Studies and International Ethics

Chapter 6 – Peter Mayer: Notes on the Potential for German-Israeli Cooperation in Peace Studies
Chapter 7 – Tral Dingott Alkopher: Reconsidering Security in the European Security Community
Chapter 8 – Nava Löwenheim: Thoughts about the Contribution of Apologies to the Fild of International Relations
Chapter 9 – Gallia Lindenstrauß: Diaspora Involvement in Peace Processes
About the Contributers

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The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Alfred Davis Building, Mount Scopus
IL-91905 Jerusalem, Israel
Phone: +972-2588-2312, Fax: +972-2582-5534
Web: http://davis.huji.ac.il/eng/publications.asp?cat=110

Justice – Political, Social, Juridical
Thousand Oaks • London • New Delhi (SAGE)

This book looks at concepts of justice from points of view of various religious and cultural traditions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Cosmopolitanism, Tribal Cultures) and different methodological perspectives (historical, theological, philosophical, sociological). One common thread in these essays is the reflection on ethics universally and reference to the basic values of the Indian constitution. People from all categories were included in the dialogue process on justice in order to avoid any risk of unintentionally missing out people belonging to certain categories.

This volume attempts to express the opinions of people whose voices were not very prominent in theoretical debates on justice and its practical implications. Their perspectives on justice are contrasted with mainstream conceptions of justice, whose problematic representativeness for India today is thereby interpreted. Both abstract universalism and relativism lack a common point of reference to assess relevance and adequacy of a given conception of justice. Neither unaffected universalism nor relativism defined by traditional norms turns is sustainable. The contributors offer a concept of 'internal universalism' as an alternative to unaffected universalism.

Combining various forms and stages of 'reflective equilibrium' as conceived by John Rawls, this framework provides us with the necessary reference point to assess the adequacy as proposed in this book and engage in a comprehensive dialogue on questions of justice.

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SAGE International:
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book232778&

SAGE India:
http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book.asp?bookid=1232&Subject_Name=&mode=1

Der Philosoph als Mediator.
Anwendungsbedingungen globaler Gerechtigkeit
Wien (Passagen)

Welchen Beitrag kann Philosophie leisten, wenn es um akute Probleme der internationalen Politik geht? Welche Rolle kommt dem Intellektuellen in einer sich als demokratisch verstehenden Gesellschaft zu?

Der Philosoph – zentrale These dieses Buches – ist Vermittler. Er ist nicht der Experte, an den die Gesellschaft ihre Wert-Entscheidungen delegieren kann. Philosophie kann aber zur ethisch neutralen Instanz werden, wenn es darum geht, Konfliktparteien aus ihrem Kontext heraus zu verstehen.

Bei seinem Versuch einer kritischen Neukonstruktion der Gerechtigkeitstheorie von John Rawls, die gleichzeitig als eine Einführung zu lesen ist, orientiert sich der Autor an Rawls und Kant aber auch an aktuellen Diskussionen aus Rechts- und Staatsphilosophie, Politischer Theorie und Demokratietheorie. Anwendungsfelder sind Kosovo, Menschenrechtspolitik, Weiterentwicklung des Völkerrechts etc.

Für € 30 zu bestellen beim Passagen Verlag:
http://www.passagen.at/cms/index.php?id=62&isbn=9783851654288&L=0